my favorite useless product ever was the flowbee. You put an attachment on the end of yur vacuum hose, and started vacuuming around your head, and the attachment would cut your hair as it was being sucked up.

I was looking at Babysteals today, and their featured product is EscaPeeJays. Basically one-piece toddler pajamas that zip in the back so that said toddler can't take them off in the middle of the night. I remember reversing the jammies of some of the kids that I babysat for just this reason. Honestly I think that it's genius in marketing, but not something that I'd necessarily seek out because reversing toddler jammies just isn't that difficult.

I was looking at Babysteals today, and their featured product is EscaPeeJays. Basically one-piece toddler pajamas that zip in the back so that said toddler can't take them off in the middle of the night. I remember reversing the jammies of some of the kids that I babysat for just this reason. Honestly I think that it's genius in marketing, but not something that I'd necessarily seek out because reversing toddler jammies just isn't that difficult.

My kids can't stand having anything close up around their neck (probably got it from me; it makes me feel like I'm being choked). So it kind of makes sense, since most sleepers have a higher neck in front than in back.

I buy Little Keeper Sleepers for mine, basically the same thing, zip up the back and snaps over the zipper and a neck that wont stretch. I used to turn his pj's backwards, but then he started wriggling out through the neck hole! I went looking for them and he has about 10 pairs now. I buy them 3 at a time regularly!

I was originally going to say "Glitter hoof polish for horses," because, seriously?

I always figured it was for the same reason my poor pup has to wear a big orange vest at certain times of the year. It keeps stupid hunters from mistaking her for "game".

(She seriously looks like a bear cub these days, so it's worth the look I get when I grab the vest).

Big orange vest = not a game animal makes sense. But if a hunter looked closely enough at the prospective target to note whether or not its hooves glittered, he'd know it wasn't a deer! Alas, "buck fever" is alive and well, and gets lots of domestic animals every year. Also a person from time to time. There was a case a few years back where a woman was shot and killed on her own back porch; she was wearing something white, and the idiot hunter's defense was "I thought it was a deer's tail -- she shouldn't have been wearing white in hunting season!"

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~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~It's true. Money can't buy happiness. You have to turn it into books first. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I was originally going to say "Glitter hoof polish for horses," because, seriously?

Then I got this month's Horse Illustrated, and on the back cover is a full-page ad for riding gloves that have hardware that will connect you to your cell phone, so that you can text, Twitter, check voicemail and make cell calls through your gloves, while you're riding.

Um, yeah. When you're sitting on a thousand pounds of self-directed guided muscle, which by the way has the emotional maturity of a 3-year-old human and a complete fear of umbrellas, mylar balloons, rabbits, and people in blue shirts who are walking the fenceline, you should totally be concentrating on your Twitter account.

Bahaha! I used to have a horse that I took on trail rides. He was usually pretty steady but the weirdest things would spook him.

During one ride, a rattlesnake was spotted in the middle of the trail and spooking a lot of the horses. I expected mine to follow suit, but he was as cool as a cucumber, shifting over to one side of the trail to avoid the rattler and calmly walking past it. Then we turned the corner that led into camp and he completely lost his mind over the dumpster that was positioned at the entrance. This was long before cell phones but I just can't imagine using it for anything other than the "Uh, my horse just threw me overboard and bolted, and I'm 3 miles from home. Can you come get me?" calls.

ETA: I have the Pampered Chef version of the SlapChop and I use it all the time, especially for mincing garlic. I can never get it small enough with just a knife and this chops it up into teeny, tiny little bits in a matter of seconds. And it can go right into the dishwasher. I also use it to chop up potatoes for taco meat (my MILs recipe has potato in it), eggs for tuna and egg salad, pickles for salad and just about anything else that needs to be diced into teeny pieces.

I was looking at Babysteals today, and their featured product is EscaPeeJays. Basically one-piece toddler pajamas that zip in the back so that said toddler can't take them off in the middle of the night. I remember reversing the jammies of some of the kids that I babysat for just this reason. Honestly I think that it's genius in marketing, but not something that I'd necessarily seek out because reversing toddler jammies just isn't that difficult.

Based on a lot of reading I've done over a relatively long period of time, plus my own very recent experience...modern-day shampoo.

Seriously, if everything I've read about sodium lauryl sulfate is even half true, who decided it would be a good idea to put that stuff in all of our shampoo (and soap)? It isn't necessary for getting one's hair clean (all it really does is suds up and strip necessary oils), and it can be seriously damaging. I don't need to use an ingredient intended for dish soap on anything but dishes!

I would add to this conditioner with silicone in it (best analogy for that is painting over peeling paint) and most modern "hygiene" practices in general. Many of us don't need to shower every day, and we definitely don't need to wash our hair and skin with detergents on a daily basis. Nor do most of us need antibacterial everything considering we have functioning immune systems.

I saw an ad from the 50s yesterday that said "To keep hygienic, wash hair more often - every 10 days at a minimum but once a week for extra clean!" I've actually adopted this practice - on average I go 5-7 days between washings but I've stretched it to 10. My scalp produces less oily so it doesn't look greasy and my hair is in great condition. Brushing the natural oils through it every day actually makes it very shiny and lustrous.

I wish I could do that, but I gym five days a week and if I don't wash my hair after sweating it soaking, it looks ghastly. If you have any suggestions to get around how to deal with daily gym sweat without washing it, I'd be grateful.

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It's best to love your family as you would a Siberian Tiger - from a distance, preferably separated by bars . -- Pearls Before Swine (16-May-2009)

WolfWench, I was my hair with conditioner only (get something clean-rinsing) after workouts. It doesn't look great, but it also doesn't look horrifically greasy, either. If I'm going to be going somewhere that appearances are important, I'll wash with shampoo, but I use just conditioner every chance I get. The great thing is that when I really wash my hair, it's the best hair day ever.

WolfWench, I was my hair with conditioner only (get something clean-rinsing) after workouts. It doesn't look great, but it also doesn't look horrifically greasy, either. If I'm going to be going somewhere that appearances are important, I'll wash with shampoo, but I use just conditioner every chance I get. The great thing is that when I really wash my hair, it's the best hair day ever.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I've got a bottle of conditioner that I never use, may as well get some use out of it.

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It's best to love your family as you would a Siberian Tiger - from a distance, preferably separated by bars . -- Pearls Before Swine (16-May-2009)

WolfWench, I was my hair with conditioner only (get something clean-rinsing) after workouts. It doesn't look great, but it also doesn't look horrifically greasy, either. If I'm going to be going somewhere that appearances are important, I'll wash with shampoo, but I use just conditioner every chance I get. The great thing is that when I really wash my hair, it's the best hair day ever.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I've got a bottle of conditioner that I never use, may as well get some use out of it.

You can always add a touch of baking soda before the conditioner. I use baking soda and conditioner as my every day shampoo (okay every 2-3 days). I used to have to wash my hair every day or it looked awful. Now, it doesn't start looking greasy for 2-3 days, and I can go 4 with a bit of baby powder and a ponytail when I need to. Of course, I don't do that after working in the garden.

What about if you have dandruff? I don't have terrible dandruff, but I do have a bit of a problem with it. I tried skipping the shampoo this morning and now my dandruff is acting up. Will the dandruff calm down once my hair gets used to rarely shampooing (like how the greasiness is supposed to calm down after awhile)?

I actually have an egg/mushroom slicer. I never learned actual "slicing and dicing" - Robert Irvine would have a field day with my knife skills.

The one time in the past three years that I made egg salad, though, I didn't know I had an egg sliver so just used a fork to mash the eggs. But I can see an egg slicer if one wanted egg slices for a garnish. I wonder if it would work for strawberries, too.

It does I have one and use it when I'm making egg salad. Then I take it out and cut the other direction to have cubed eggs for the salad. It's just a time saver, plus it's uniform.

I also used it for strawberries when I had a bunch to slice up for jam - again, uniform slices and it's quicker than doing all the cutting myself.

My MIL gave me an actual strawberry slicer as part of my bridal shower gift. Rather than the wire that most egg slicers have, it has actual blades. It's great - except when you have super big strawberries - those you have to cut in half first. She got me an egg slicer, too, which has 2 layers of cutters, so if you want to cube your eggs, you don't have to move the egg at all!

When I first met my DH he had this weird useless chopping thing. I think it was called a slapchop. I never understood why anyone would want to use it.

It was only big enough to chop about a quarter of an onion at a time, the chops were not uniform, you really have to have a lot of hand strength to get it all the way though whatever you were chopping and it was a pain to clean. So much easier to use a knife.

I find all the kitchen gadgets for eggs to be just bizarre. Egg separator? Egg slicer?

LOL, I'm with you on the gadgets for eggs! This coming from the queen of gadgets and doohickeys (me).

On another topic, I have two Snuggies. I hate them both because I can't walk with them on.

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Paperweights, for instance - has anyone ever established what, when, and why paper has to be weighed down? ~Don Aslett